Omaha daily bee., 1887-01-03
THE CAPTAINS DIAMONDS.
A Box Which Caused His Crew tc
Mutiny,
Little Smuggling Enterprise
ThrouGh Which the Cock &c.
came Successful
Merchant.

s sald ship chandler of this CIV to
p group of sea captains who had asscn
a bled in the snug little Office of his we
Z stocked store one afternoon recently
4 The surprise which this announcemen
had provoked gave place to expression
n OF curiosity on the part of the assemble
captains, and the chandler proceeded t
explain his innocent connection with th
smuggling industry.
when | was about nineteen wear
old, said the chandler, 81 went to sea
! | shipped as cook on an American bari
which finally landed me IN LiverpooI
where was paid off. After cot rid n
my wages L looked about for anothe,
snip. L found a berth as cook on ar
American bark of 600 tons. which wa,
bound for Savannah. The captain was a
quiet sort OF man, with small black ewes
each OF which looked us If il was trying
10 Keep what it was doing out of the
other The day before the bark sailed
nlohg' narrow box came on board, and
IN ine Ca Ca ptalh hau 1t slowed away carefully
IN nus stateroom. The box looked rs
though 1t might contain n coffin. | made
up my mind that there was BODY in.
Ss'Ge, put as wasn't supersttious myself
didn't pay much attention to the mat.
Yer at the time. The crew looked like
lough men. They were hard cases as .
rule, but they seemed willing enough to
do their. work-aIl except two, Tbes@e So
were were big, brawny Irishman we called
Dublin Mike, and wiry, Spanish. .iooIS.
ing chap named Tony. Mike and Tony
were always telling the other chaps that
lhey were working too hard, and were
auvn'sihg them to stand up for their
rights We had good run for about two
weeks and had made the better part Of
the voyage, when heavy northerIy gale
set in. There was good deal of iron in
Ihe cargo ana that made the bark labor
padiy. she strained so much that she
spranga bad leak. The pumps had to be
kept gong nearly all the time. The gale
lasted several days and we drifted con.
siderably to the southwark The men
got tired of working so much at The
pumps, and then it leaked out about
the strengthening box in the captains
| statcroom.
~ No wonder we have bad luck, said
DuoLn Mike, with that stiff on board,
and the chap began to work on the super
stltlous feeling of the men by telling Them
tnat no ship with dead body on board
was ever known to get through a vovnpe
without trouble.
" That night, at four bells in the doc
watch, all hands laid aft and asked to sec
tt,e th ca Ptain. Inc skipper came out of
the cabin looking sort of scared and asked
the men what they wanted Mike, who
was spokesman, said that they couldn't |
stand 1t any longer with dead bodv snn |
board. The body had got to 90 over.
irp BOARD or else the ship would 90 down.
me skipper SAID that the idea that a dead
o1uS could bring any harm to ship was
forward; Then Tony cried out to the
men to follow hm and made n dash
toward the cabin door. ""'"
stop men,. cried the captain, there
am , any body in that box
Tony and the rest stopped.
That box, the captain went on to
say. has only got some silks in it that I
want TO get through without duty. Per-
hnDs there's some diamonds in with the
SILKS, ana perhaps there's more diamonds
Than there is silks I'm going to put into
l5ernuda for repairs. We're within two
days sal of Bermuda now.
But said Tony, if we help You to
save say, the diamonds and silks You Ought to
divide with us when we get to Savannah T,
And so L will, said the skipper.
Mike SWorc that the captain ought to
open the box and show the men that there
was wa, really no body in it. Tony seized
Mike by the arm and whispered some.
thing to HIM in an angry tone, Mike
lhen S.ammered and said that he would
take the captains word for it. and ali
went forward quietly.
The wind was fair during the next "a
hours, and the next night when | turned
"a 4, understood that the chances were
n the morning The watch on deck had
Ieen Keeping the pumps going nearly all
he time, and | could hear them clicking
Is tell asleep. | slept IN n little state
Dom rlght ait OF the forcaste. There
vas "A little air hole in the bulkhean be- 4
Woen ny room and the forcastle. | had
rcqucntly heard what was going on in
he forcastlc, but had never paid much
Lttenton to it. That night / woke up
ceiling kind of uncomfortable. | heard
oices IN the forcastle. | fancied that the
Watches had Just been changed and
ried to- go to sleep again, but could not.
u ne Hilklng IN tho forecastle kept on. .
his surprised me, because the men
sually went to sleep the moment thcy
nrned in.. put my ear up to the air
ole and listened
What win we do with the COOKE l
card a sailor say.
=" ",,'Ihcy' il lock hlm in just before eight
els, replied "A voice, which recognized
Then | heard noise as if my door
nd the shutters over my window were .
cing fastened. | got up softly and felt
~ door felt that | had been fastened
!. i climbed back into my berth and
ittlng my car to the hole listened again.
what will become of the poor cook
cked up there, heard the sailor ask
" The same will become of the ship, go
plicd Mike, with laugh.
"A chilly, awful kind of feeling came
icr me when he said this.
nued. u,
II heard the eight bells strike, and -
I'd then | heard the men rush out OF
rccastlc. An instant later | heard
Veral pistol shots fired. This was fol.
we'd by loud shouts and something
lch sounded like the smashing in OF e
ors. Then heard several more pistol
OTIS, and then everything was quiet, :
ay there IN my berth not daring to cry II
t lest the mutiuecrs should come back
d XIII me. Their plan seemed clear To =
,, They undoubtedly intended to secure ~
diamonds, and, leaving the ship to her
g, to make for Bermuda in the Wi
en- boats, Occasionally | would Pal
hr some sailor enter the fOrcastle b
I something and then got out again. 1 TaI
uid not hear the pumps going and | sea,
ought that the vessel was hIllng fast. bel,
ly quietly in my bunk until daylight No
gan to show Itself through the chinks A
my doors and window. just then | bhot
ard several more shots fired. This or
de me think that the captain and the nor
ties had succeeded in barricadinr liz,